{"id":19004,"date":"2024-11-26T14:38:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T14:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19004"},"modified":"2024-11-26T14:38:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T14:38:35","slug":"linkedin-were-too-boring-for-kids-for-australias-social-media-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19004","title":{"rendered":"LinkedIn: We're too boring for kids for Australia's social media ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Career-networking site LinkedIn has told Australian lawmakers it is too dull for kids to warrant its inclusion in a proposed ban on social media for under 16 year olds. <\/p>\n

“LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors,” the Microsoft-owned company said in a submission to an Australian senate committee.<\/p>\n

The Australian government has said it will introduce “world-leading” legislation<\/a> to stop children accessing social media platforms.<\/p>\n

But companies behind some of the most popular platforms with young people – Meta, Google, Snapchat-owner Snap Inc and TikTok – have all challenged the planned law in submissions made to lawmakers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the proposed law is to address the harm social media was inflicting on Australian children.<\/p>\n

He said it was for “the mums and dads” who like him were “worried sick about the safety of our kids online.”<\/p>\n

Other countries are closely watching what happens with the legislation with some – including the UK<\/a> – saying they are open to following suit.<\/p>\n

Australia’s Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee gave respondents one day to comment on the bill, which would amend its existing Online Safety Act.<\/p>\n

Its report to the Senate<\/a> concludes the bill should pass – providing its recommendations, such as engaging young people in the legislation’s implementation, are considered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Significant concerns’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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However, in their responses, the world’s biggest tech firms have been setting out why they are unhappy with the proposed law.<\/p>\n

Google – which owns YouTube – and Instagram-parent Meta have said they needed more time to consider the legislation.<\/p>\n

Meta said its current form “will fail to achieve its goal of reducing the burden on parents to manage the safety of young people on social media”.<\/p>\n

It also claimed it “ignores the evidence” presented by child safety and mental health experts – a view shared by Snapchat in its own submission.<\/p>\n

X (formerly Twitter), meanwhile questioned the legality of the bill’s proposals. <\/p>\n

TikTok Australia said it had “significant concerns” with the bill as proposed.<\/p>\n

Like other platforms commenting on the legislation, it said it “hinges” on an ongoing age assurance trial looking at technologies that can effectively check user age.<\/p>\n

Ella Woods-Joyce, director of public policy for TikTok Australia and New Zealand, wrote in the company’s submission that the bill’s “rushed passage poses a serious risk of further unintended consequences”.<\/p>\n

But LinkedIn has adopted a different approach – arguing in its submission that is a platform which is simply not of any interest to children.<\/p>\n

Its minimum age requirement of 16 means they cannot access it, the company said, adding it removes child accounts when found.<\/p>\n

If LinkedIn can successfully argue it should not be included in the legislation it will potentially avoid the cost and disruption involved it introducing additional age verification processes to the site.<\/p>\n

“Subjecting LinkedIn\u2019s platform to regulation under the proposed legislation would create unnecessary barriers and costs for LinkedIn\u2019s members in Australia to undertake age assurance,” it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Interest elsewhere<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The Australian government has said it wants to bring in the legislation before the end of the parliamentary year.<\/p>\n

But experts have said the bill’s timeframe and current composition fails to provide an opportunity for adequate scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Carly Kind, the country’s privacy commissioner, said in a LinkedIn post<\/a> on Monday after appearing at a public Senate hearing that she was concerned by “the widespread privacy implications of a social media ban”.<\/p>\n

Human rights commissioner Lorraine Findlay called the one-day window for submissions of responses to the legislation “entirely inadequate” in a LinkedIn post on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We need actual consultation, not just the appearance of it,” she said.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Australian government’s plans have sparked interest elsewhere.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, told the BBC this month that similar legislation was “on the table.”<\/p>\n

France has already introduced legislation requiring social media platforms to block access to children under 15 without parental consent- though research indicates almost half of users were able to circumvent the ban using a simple VPN.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getty Images Career-networking site LinkedIn has told Australian lawmakers it is too dull for kids to warrant its inclusion in a proposed ban on social media for under 16 year olds. “LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors,” the Microsoft-owned company said in a submission to an Australian senate committee. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}